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Keith Lobdell

Stories by Keith

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Community turns out to celebrate new life for old school

Teresa Sayward stood where she had once watched over her children and grandchildren as they played basketball in perhaps the most famed North Country gym, “the pit.” Now, she looked out over a carpeted gathering space with a small kitchen area, dinner tables and a stage for shows and events, all part of the transformation of the former Willsboro Central School building into the Champlain Valley Senior Community.

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Essex County to look into vehicle registration fee

Members of the Essex County Finance Committee voted to draft a local law that would require residents of the county to pay a Highway Reuse Tax of $5 per year for passenger vehicles and $10 for commercial vehicles.

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Local schools set commencement ceremonies

A total of 156 students will be making their final walk as high school students next weekend as graduation exercises will be held at AuSable Valley, Elizabethtown-Lewis, Keene, Westport and Willsboro school districts.

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Ruby, Champlain Valley K-9 visits John Brown Farm

If you get lost in the woods of the John Brown Farm, the best thing to do is find the closest tree and hug it. That is what members of the Champlain Valley K-9 Search and Rescue Unit told those who visited the state park Saturday, June 8, as part of its Hug-A-Tree education program.

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Speedy Arnold receives People’s Choice Award at ACW literary event

Surrounded by family and friends that made the trip with him to the Adirondack Center for Writing’s (ACW’s) annual Adirondack Literary Awards June 2, he knew there were a lot of good books that had been entered into the competition.

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ROOST releases tourism findings

People who come to Essex County do so for the outdoors activities, especially hiking. That is what the 2012 Leisure Travel Study, conducted by the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism (ROOST), found after collecting data from over 4,000 returned surveys.

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ANCA hosts second Clean Energy Conference

More than 200 in attendance learned about ways to help protect the North Country environment during the 2013 Clean Energy Conference at the Lake Placid Convention Center June 5-7.

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Open burning laws debated

Moriah Supervisor Tom Scozzafava voiced concerns over DEC burning regulations during the May 20 DPW Committee meeting.

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Essex County workers fight cancer through rain drops

A number of people showed up to attend the Essex County Public Health Department’s cancer awareness walk that day, hosting two walks around town as well as food and information on healthy living.

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Veterans Court now in Essex County

The court, much like a Drug Court, where substance abuse or mental health treatment is offered as an alternative to incarceration. Veteran mentors assist with the programs.

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Etown planning under way

The annual celebration of all things Elizabethtown is set for Saturday, July 20.

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Essex Community concerts set for new season

The 2013 Essex Community Concerts, held mostly at the church, will kick off next Friday, June 14, with the Goff Brothers, which consists of Essex siblings Mitchell (violin and piano), Matthew (cello), Jonathan (piano) and Joseph (violin and piano) at 7 p.m.

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Duck Derby returns to Wadhams

For the third year, the department will be holding its Duck Derby during the Strawberry Festival in Wadhams on Father’s Day, Sunday, June 16.

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Field days held in Westport for local students

 Fifth- and sixth-grade students from 10 different schools participated in the 29th annual Essex County Environmental Field Days.

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Supervisors discuss CCE building conditions

Members of the DPW Committee exchanged ideas for needed work on the Cornell Cooperative Extension Building in Westport during its May 20 meeting.

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PHOTO GALLERY: Memorial Day

Pictures from Memorial Day ceremonies in Elizabethtown, Au Sable Forks, Wadhams, Westport and Willsboro.

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PHOTO GALLERY: Westport CS Adopt-a-Town

Students at Westport Central School spent a day on the town May 23 learning how to give back to their community.

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Westport students take to the town for a day of service

The school participated in an Adopt Your Town Day throughout the town, a program that was expanded from a previous cleanup day at Ballard Park by students in third through sixth grades.

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Troopers honor fallen members at Memorial service

Troopers past and present assembled at the Troop B headquarters in Ray Brook May 22 for the annual Troop B Memorial ceremony.

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Mehr brings ‘Fort Apache’ home

The scenes were part of the movie, “Fort Apache,” which was directed by Westport native Addison Mehr as part of his senior project at NYU.

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Marvin advances to state golf meet; local teams ousted early

Junior Connor Marvin used rounds of 84 and 86 at the Section VII golf championships May 23-24 at the Saranac Inn, placing in a tie for fifth place making it to the state tournament.

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Former students talk about role CFES played for them

“I had centered my whole life in basketball,” Johnson said to those who attended the grand opening of the College For Every Student Center in Essex May 10. “CFES helped me to re-direct my path and made me focus on school and getting my grades up.”

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Westport Hose honors pair of 50-year members

Members of the Westport Volunteer Fire Department came together May 18 for an annual banquet and a chance to honor a pair of peers who have served the company for 50 years.

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Rivals join to raise money for cancer research

Members of the Westport Lady Eagles and Elizabethtown-Lewis Lady Lions joined for a Coaches v. Cancer game in Elizabethtown that day, raising $1,000 to go toward cancer research.

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Memorial Day events scheduled

Four area town will be holding Memorial Day services Monday, May 27, to honor those who died while fighting for the United States of America.

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Essex County Sheriff’s Department: There’s an app for that

Sheriff Richard Cutting and Capt. Thomas Murphy unveiled the new way for people to access the department to members of the Essex County Public Safety Committee May 13.

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Three towns come together to ask for county assessor

Members of the Finance Committee voted 5-2 to move a resolution to the Ways and Means Committee that would allow the towns of Westport, Elizabethtown and Willsboro to hire a county-appointed assessor. The three towns currently are part of a Coordinated Assistance Program.

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Essex County busts on casino

Under an agreement reached May 21 between the State of New York and the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, the county, along with seven others, will not be eligible to house one of three new gaming casinos proposed earlier this year by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

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New camera system may be coming to county lockup

Essex County Sheriff Richard Cutting received preliminary approval to upgrade the system at the jail for $149,985 of budgeted funds.

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Two vie for AVCS school board seat

Current board member Susan Richards will face Charles A. Potthast Jr. for a three-year term on the AVCS board, with voting from noon until 9 p.m. Tuesday, May 21 at the AuSable Valley Middle High School cafeteria.

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Adirondack History Center Museum sets 2013 schedule

Director Margaret Gibbs announced the 2013 summer schedule recently, which will include the return of the “Worked/Wild,” exhibit along with “The Human Face of the Adirondacks in the Civil War.” Events and speeches throughout the summer will also focus on the Civil War, which was waged 150 years ago.

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Essex County details active shooter policy

Social Services Director John O’Neill briefed members of the Human Services Committee about the Armed Intruder Response Policy that was drafted with input from several department heads and research on similar policies in other counties.

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Willsboro CV-TEC student wins state SkillsUSA event

Lee Sloper, a senior at Willsboro Central School and a member of the CV-TEC small engineering program, earned a trip to the national SkillsUSA competition to be held in Kansas City June 24-25 by placing first at the New York State competition, recently held in Syracuse.

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Westport sixth graders come together at Dudley

As many as 14 sixth-grade students crowded onto a pair of small boxes set up at the other end of a rope swing, trying to stay out of the “lava.”

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Mental Health awareness takes to the streets

Students, caregivers, families and friends took to the streets of Elizabethtown May 10 to promote awareness for children with mental illness.

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CFES officially opens Essex facility

The CFES offices in Essex were unveiled at a grand opening reception attended by Congressman Bill Owens, State Assemblyman Dan Stec and former New York Gov. and Essex resident George Pataki.

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Sheriff honored for work with military employees, veterans

Murphy, who works with employers and soldiers to educate them on their responsibilities that go with deployment and getting back into the workforce after employment, was there to present the Patriot Award to the sheriff, a surprise honoring that only he, Undersheriff Michael Badger and Deputy Mark Bruce, who also serves in the Navy Reserve, knew about.

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Essex County to ramp up child safety seat checks

Essex County is looking to better help parents keep their young children safe while on the roads.

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Willsboro Outdoor World welcomed 'back' by community

Hotaling, who graduated from Plattsburgh State in December with a degree in business, said that opening a sporting goods store was not her top option, but realized that there was a need for it in the community.

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Essex stormwater line project stalled

Essex County Department of Public Works Director Anthony LaVigne said that the work in the hamlet of Essex to replace the stormwater line on Beggs Point Road had to be halted recently when it was found out the line would run directly into the current town water line.

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School board seats to be contested at AVCS, Keene

A total of 10 North Country residents are running for eight open seats on the five local school boards in the region, with only three seats being contested.

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Families First to host mental health walk Friday

During the May 6 Essex County Board of Supervisors monthly meeting, Families First Executive Director JoAnne Caswell talked to the members of Mental Health Month and Children’s Mental Health Week while announcing that the group would be holding an awareness walk in Elizabethtown this Friday.

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Essex County approves hazardous waste disposal day funding

The Board of Supervisors voted to add $40,000 from contingency to an existing $20,000 budgeted to hold a hazardous waste disposal day at two sites in the county.

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Essex, AES earn design award for municipal treatment plant

However, inside the two barns is the Town of Essex Wastewater Treatment Plant, which recently won a 2013 Excellence In Building Design Competition Award during the Adirondack Park Local Government Day Conference held in Lake Placid.

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Closing time rule change passes through Essex County board

While there was little opposition to changing the rules for alcohol sales during the Essex County Board of Supervisors meeting May 6, most of the discussion focused on a change to when it could be sold on a specific day.

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Harlem students make a CFES trip to Willsboro

Students from the Wadleigh Secondary School and Frederick Douglass Academy II in Harlem spent three days with students from Willsboro Central School, part of a College For Every Student (CFES) exchange program between the two districts.

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Alcohol proposal headed to full Essex County board

The resolution in support of changing the hours in which an establishment can sell alcohol from 4 a.m. to 3 a.m. passed through the committee, 13-2, making its way to a weighted full board vote May 6.

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Essex County Sheriff’s Department receives comptroller recommendations

The Essex County Sheriff’s Department recently received several suggestions to help streamline financial processes from the New York State Comptroller’s Office.

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Essex County work on Little Whiteface to move forward while monitoring Bicknell’s Thrush

Work on the new radio tower on Little Whiteface will move forward after concerns over the mating habits of an endangered bird were raised last week.

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‘Go Digital or Go Dark’ campaign under way

Almost 200 people made their way into the main screening room at the Palace Theatre in Lake Placid April 26 to help launch a campaign to keep small town movie cinemas in the Adirondack region alive.

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